


Brace Yourself

by Xyliandra



Series: Reigisa Week [16]
Category: Free!
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, M/M, Reigisa Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:02:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xyliandra/pseuds/Xyliandra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei isn’t all that into his body mod.<br/>---<br/>Written for <a href="http://reigisaweek.tumblr.com">ReiGisa Week 3</a>, Day 5: Body Mod</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brace Yourself

**Author's Note:**

  * For [squirrelmort](https://archiveofourown.org/users/squirrelmort/gifts).



Nagisa frowned when he was put through to Rei’s voicemail. Maybe Rei was sleeping? He never missed school, so he was probably sick. But he had seemed fine the day before… Nagisa hung up the phone and tried calling again. This time he got voicemail after one ring. Rei rejected his call. Nagisa tried again. Voicemail. Redial. Voicemail. As he was about to call Rei yet again, his phone vibrated.

 

> 1 New Message

Nagisa quickly opened the message.

 

> _I am not answering any calls right now, Nagisa-kun. Please stop calling._

Nagisa couldn’t help but feel a little hurt reading the message. He quickly typed out a response.

 

> _??? is evrything ok???_

Nagisa could imagine Rei grumbling about his typo and he smiled to himself. He looked up from his phone to see how far the train was from his stop. Next stop. Perfect. Nagisa grabbed his bag and waited for the train to slow.

 

> _More or less, yes._

Well _that_ was helpful. He was gonna have to check on Rei in person. He exited the train, expertly weaving through the other passengers. He felt his phone vibrate again and he glanced down quickly to see that Rei had sent him another text.

 

> _How was swim practice? Were there any issues we need to address?_

Nagisa laughed as he started texting back (nearly running into a young mother in the process, whoops!)

 

> _of course not! we have the best team everrrrr~_ _☆_
> 
> _ill tell you about it when i see you_

Nagisa turned down the road that led to Rei’s house,

 

> _Nagisa-kun, it is not necessary for you to check on me, I am completely fine._

Nagisa snorted. “Nice try, Rei-chan. I know you better than that.” His phone lit up and buzzed again. “And you should know me better than to think I wouldn’t be coming over anyway.” He shoved his phone in his pocket, ignoring the flurry of text messages Rei was sending, and skipped the rest of the way, humming to himself. He bounded up the steps and knocked on the door. Nagisa rocked on his heels as he waited for the door to open. When it didn’t, he knocked again, louder than he had before. But there was still no response. So Nagisa began knocking to the tune of the song he was humming. About halfway through the chorus, the door was yanked open.

“Nagisa-kun! What are you doing?” Rei cried, looking very peeved that Nagisa was on the other side of the door.

“Knocking.”

“You were _banging_ on the door! Incessantly!”

“Ryugazaki-kun, is there a problem?” a woman asked. Nagisa turned to see Rei’s neighbor peering out from around her doorframe, eyes hardened with displeasure.

Rei squeaked in a panic, yanking Nagisa into the apartment. Rei stuck his head out and apologized profusely while Nagisa snickered softly, toeing off his shoes and dropping his bag beside them.

“Nagisa-kun! You cannot be so inconsiderate! You disturbed the neighbors!” Rei scolded, closing the door.

“You shoulda let me in the first time,” Nagisa said with a shrug and a mischievous grin. “Why didn’t you let me in anyway? You knew I was coming over.”

“I told you not to come over,” Rei grumbled.

“Why not? I was worried about you! You don’t miss school unless you’re dying!” Nagisa latched onto Rei’s arm. “Are you dying?”

“No, of course not!” Rei’s eyes widened and he quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

“Oh my god, are you contagious? Is that why I couldn’t come over?”

“I am not contagious.” Rei’s words were muffled by his hand.

“Damn. I was hoping maybe I’d get sick too and get to miss school. But if you’re not contagious, why are you covering your mouth? Are you gonna sneeze?”

“No.”

“Then why are you acting so weird, Rei-chan.” Rei said nothing. “Rei-chaaaaaaaan,” Nagisa whined, tugging on Rei’s arm. “Rei-chan, don’t you love me anymore?”

“Nagisa-kun, this has nothing to do with my affection for you.” Rei sighed. “But it is not as if I can hide this forever…” Rei lowered his hand and smiled reluctantly.

“Oh my god, you have _braces_?” Nagisa exclaimed. Rei quickly covered his mouth again.

“Yes. And I know I look hideous, so please-”

“Rei-chan, you could never look hideous. You’re the most beautiful person I know!” he assured, kissing Rei’s arm.

“Braces are not beautiful.”

Nagisa pulled away from Rei’s arm, sliding his hand down to hold Rei’s, and stepping in front of him instead. “Here, let me see. I didn’t get a good look before.” Rei hesitantly lowered his hand and gave the same unsure smile. Nagisa smiled back.

“Yup. Still look like my beautiful Rei-chan.” Rei blushed faintly. “Is this why you were so anti me coming over? Because of your braces?” Rei nodded slightly. “What, were you planning on breaking up with me and becoming a hermit? Because even then, I’d still find a way to break in and see you.” Rei looked torn between disapproval and affection at Nagisa’s declaration. Nagisa laughed and tugged on Rei’s hand; the taller boy took a step forward. “I’m your _boyfriend,_ Rei-chan. And even if I wasn’t, you’re my best friend and co-captain of the Iwatobi swim team. I wouldn’t let you disappear that easily!” Rei smiled softly.

“I suppose you aren’t the type to give up easily, are you?”

“Nope! Not at all!” Nagisa beamed at Rei. “You’re stuck with me!”

“I suppose I could live with that.”

“You better!” Nagisa hugged Rei, humming happily when Rei wrapped his arms around him as well. “Oh, I brought you your homework. I thought that if you were dying, that might cheer you up.”

“I assure you that I am not dying, but I do appreciate the sentiment. Would you like to work on it with me? You may need to explain the concepts to me.”

“Doubt it, but yeah, I could do a study date. But in a minute, kay? I wanna hug for a while.”

“I would not be opposed,” Rei agreed, leaning forward to kiss Nagisa’s head. Nagisa felt Rei wince.

“Are you okay?” Nagisa asked, pulling back quickly.

“I am fine. My lip caught on a bracket.”

“Oh noes! Poor Rei-chan! Can I do anything to help?”

“What on earth could you do to help?”

“IDK. Yell at your braces?” Rei laughed.

“Nagisa-kun, that would be both ridiculous and ineffective.” Nagisa shrugged with a grin.

“You know me: ridiculous and ineffective!” Rei shook his head with a chuckle. “Yay! Rei-chan laughed! He’s back!”

“I never went anywhere.” Rei squeezed Nagisa affectionately. “I have orthodontic wax that is supposed to prevent the brackets from catching in my room. Would you mind if we made our way upstairs?” Nagisa shook his head.

“Nope, not at all! Lemme grab my bag and we can do homework, I guess.”

“Volunteering to do homework? Why, Nagisa-kun, what has gotten into you?” Rei teased. Nagisa stuck his tongue out in response.

“Guess dating a brainiac is rubbing off on me. Kou always said you were a good influence.”

“I am compelled to agree with her assessment.” Nagisa grabbed his bag and followed Rei to his room. Rei made his way to his nightstand and opened the drawer.

“Ne, Rei-chan?”

“What is it, Nagisa-kun?” Rei asked looking up at Nagisa. Nagisa chewed on his lip as he thought of how to phrase his question.

“Why didn’t you tell me? That you were getting braces?” Rei closes the drawer slowly.

“i was worried what you might think,” Rei confessed, sounding slightly embarrassed. “Braces aren’t exactly… becoming and-”

“Seriously Rei-chan? Do you really think I’d care about some dumb ol’ braces? They’re not even that noticeable!”

“If I keep my mouth closed at all times, perhaps,” Rei mumbled.

“Rei-chan, I’m serious. You didn’t even get any fun colored bands or anything.”

“I did not want to draw attention-”

“You’re not the first person in the world to ever get braces, ya know. People aren’t going to cower away in disgust and fear because you got some metal on your teeth now.” Rei fidgeted with the container of wax rather than respond. Nagisa sighed, exasperated. “Rei-chaaaaan,” he crossed the room and took Rei’s hands in his own, “don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I trust you.”

“Then trust me when I say you look beautiful. I’m not so shallow to think you’re beautiful because of your looks, though you are hella gorgeous.” Nagisa smiled at Rei’s blush. “You’re beautiful because of who you are.” Nagisa stood on his tiptoes and waited. After a moment, Rei closed the gap and kissed the blond delicately. Nagisa smiled into the kiss and squeezed Rei’s hands. When Rei pulled back, he was smiling softly.

“Nagisa-kun, thank you.”

“Anytime babe. I will always remind you of how amazing you are; it’s good for my ego.” Rei laughed. “So. Have you decided to stop planning to drop out of school and take over the world to take revenge for your braces?”

“First of all, that makes no sense, and second of all, I was never going to drop out of school.”

“Of course not; you love it too much. Which is good news for the team, because I’m not qualified to lead a swim team unsupervised.”

“Good lord, what did you do?”

“Nothing!” Rei studied Nagisa with a frown. “I swear!”

“I’m calling Kou-san.”

“Okay, it’s not what I _did_ per se. But let me explain!”

**Author's Note:**

> Braces modify your body, so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> [xyliandra.tumblr.com](http://xyliandra.tumblr.com) | [xyliandra-fics.tumblr.com](http://xyliandra-fics.tumblr.com)


End file.
